+ Atlan. 97: 112. Ja. ’06. 240w.
“The volume brings much that is new, and what was previously known has been well retold. There is, in general, a wise discrimination as to content.”
+ + Nation. 82: 100. F. 1, ’06. 1120w.
Taylor, Mary Imlay. Impersonator. †$1.50. Little.
An art student in Paris is invited by her aunt to make a three weeks visit in Washington. For certain reasons she sends a friend to impersonate her. The one chosen is really too sincere and honest to enjoy the rôle, but when once launched upon it, the fear of being discovered is subordinate to the joy of social popularity. Among the characters portrayed are the businesslike tho unrefined aunt, a young congressman and a trust magnate who both declare their love for Mary, a prying social secretary who makes mountains of scandal out of molehills of evidence, and a French ambassador who averts a painful crisis by claiming the heroine as his daughter and giving her rightful title of countess.
“Readers who still hold to the old-time standards of honor in fiction as well as in real life, and who reject the modern American dictum that success is the main thing, no matter how it is won, may find it a bit disconcerting to be expected to admire and sympathize with a heroine who wins through by means that are not in the least debatable. Otherwise they may find ‘The impersonator’ a moderately entertaining story, written with vivacity and occasional mild humor.”
– + N. Y. Times. 11: 751. N. 17, ’06. 430w.
“A superfluous story of Washington society.”
– Outlook. 84: 892. D. 8, ’06. 40w.